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Finding the fun in reading: it’s worth it

by ChaptersReading

By Beverly Richards

As the President of the Marion County Chapter of Read Aloud West Virginia, you might assume I was always a great reader. I even have my Master’s Degree in Reading; therefore, it sounds a little crazy when I say that I didn’t believe reading was “fun” until I became an adult.

Reading as a child was never easy for me, no matter how hard I tried. I would practice regularly, but it just never seemed easy or enjoyable. I had many smart friends who were great readers and excelled in school. They were always in the “Blue Birds” reading group, reserved for the best readers. I always made good grades, but reading didn’t come easily to me the way it did for my friends. I strived to be a “Blue Bird” and achieved my goal for a short time, until being demoted again. I wondered what was wrong with me.

I remember my dad and grandmother reading stories to me when I was growing up, and I loved it! My grandmother was a teacher, and she read with many voices and a lot of inflection. But when I tried to read to myself, I read very slowly and had to reread things over and over to understand and make sense of the story.

Even so, I really wanted to be a teacher just like my grandmother. I worked hard to get the grades I needed to get a degree in elementary education. I realized that reading should be easier than it was, so I decided to also get a certificate to teach children with learning disabilities. I reasoned that if I studied this field, I would learn strategies that would not only help me better educate the children in my care but would also help me to improve my own reading experiences. I learned a lot, and I did see an improvement in my own reading comprehension, but it was still difficult.

There had to be more. I decided to get my Master’s in Reading from WVU, and this is what turned the corner for me. In my Master’s program, I discovered how enjoyable and fun reading could be, especially when reading books I chose! I found myself excited about reading and teaching reading to others. I am so glad that I didn’t give up, because I truly love to read now. I like to read for information, pleasure, and for self-help. I also read to my granddaughter all the time and many other children too! I even create read aloud videos for children to enjoy. Quite the turnaround from where I started!

Please know that if reading is hard for you or your child, I’m positive you are NOT the only one going through this. Yes, practice always helps. Creating pictures in your mind of what you are reading is important. Experiences are helpful when you think about how what you already know relates to what you are reading.

But, perhaps the most important thing is choice! Find a book that you or your child is interested in reading and read it! You will be surprised how much enjoyment and growth can come from spending time in a good book. You may struggle and get discouraged when comparing yourself to others like I did, but I hope you won’t give up. Reading is magical, and it can take you to places you never realized were there. Take it from someone who’s been there — it’s worth the effort.

‘Tell me all the books’

by Parents and FamiliesPartnersReading

I am typically a newsletter editor’s nightmare — waiting until the last minute to turn in my article. There is a reason for that. Invariably, close to deadline something will happen which crystalizes for me what I want to say. So it is with this issue.

Jennie Fitzkee, blogger extraordinaire and a frequent contributor to this newsletter (see her wonderful article about visiting E.B. White’s farm in this issue) recently sent two posts which dealt with book selection and the “best words from a child.”

The former touched on the most frequently asked question we receive from our volunteers, “What book is best?” To ask me (or any reader!) that question is almost like asking a parent to pick a favorite child — can’t be done! Nevertheless, we know it is an important question that needs to be addressed and this issue is chock full of suggestions from our conference attendees. (In Jennie’s own classroom the early favorite this year is Mo Willems’ Knuffle Bunny.)  You can also find links to the growing list of favorite titles submitted by Read Aloud volunteers over the years at readaloudwestvirginia.org/book-lists-and-reviews/.

The other post referenced a kindergarten student who, after observing the impressive display of books in Jennie’s room, said, “Jennie, tell me all the books.”

That made me think of our volunteers beginning another school year of “telling” (aka reading) so many books to children and introducing them to new words, new worlds and new authors. Those thoughts led in turn to an article I read this week about one of my very special heroes, Fred Rogers. As you probably know this is the 50th anniversary of “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood,” and he has been the subject of many articles and honors, as well as a commemorative stamp and several documentaries.

That documentary seemed to make everyone leaving the theatre walk a little straighter and smile a little brighter. One of the most touching moments was when those remembering Mr. Rogers were asked to do something he had asked numerous audiences from Congressional committees to college graduates to do. He called it an “invisible gift” as he asked them to take one silent moment to “think about those who have helped you become who you are today.”

It made me think of those who are serving as that person for a child or children in our state now, guiding the next generation. When you read to a child as a volunteer, parent, grandparent, guardian or friend you are adding to who that child will become.

Those of you who support our organization and enable us to offer our programs are also fulfilling that role. You will read about some who are doing that (conferees; Dan Foster). Others may remain anonymous, but it does not diminish the incredibly important role they play. As we start the new school year, know that when you introduce a child to the pleasure of reading you are providing an incredibly important gift.

Also know we are always looking for additional volunteers to join us in our efforts.

— Mary Kay Bond, Executive Director, Read Aloud West Virginia

It’s not too late to give to Read Aloud West Virginia!

by DonorsNewsSupporters

It’s not too late to contribute to Read Aloud’s 2017-2018 Annual Fund! Read Aloud’s work is dependent on funds provided by our wonderful donors. These contributions enable our staff to support local chapters and grow our program.

While volunteer chapters are the face of Read Aloud in their respective communities, we know from experience that they count on an office and staff to support them. Read Aloud was founded in 1987 but from 2000-2007, we existed without staff and the number of chapters fell from 53 to four in that time period. Read Aloud was re-established with a central office in 2007-2008. Today, we serve more than 200 schools in 30 counties. That progress would not be possible without our generous donors.

Annual Fund letters were mailed in October and many of you have already contributed. We thank you! Please remember the 2017-2018 Annual Fund drive continues and is not closed at the end of the calendar year. If you have not done so, please consider making a donation to help us continue the work of getting books in the hands and on the minds of West Virginia’s children.

Reading Family OWL

OWL program encourages reading to babies and toddlers

by NewsReading

A program launched by the Kanawha County Public Library is making it easier for families to read regularly to their preschoolers. The Open Worlds of Learning (OWL) program offers a simple way to check out a variety of age-appropriate books for children from birth to age three.

Parents and guardians age 18 and older may apply for an OWL card, receive a bag of ten books and keep them as long as they like. Once the books have been read, they can be exchanged for another bag of books. Since young children can be a bit rough on the books they love and explore, families are not charged for damaged books.

Currently 150 families are enrolled in the program and more than 3,000 books were checked out between the program’s inception in April and December. Terri Wooten, Kanawha County Public Library spokesperson reports, “The program has proven to be quite popular. Parents appreciate that they can check out a number of books at one time and can keep them as long as they like.”

This program aligns with one of the major goals of Read Aloud West Virginia: to encourage families to begin reading to children at birth. The benefits of reading to children are numerous. In addition to building a child’s vocabulary and attention span, a 2015 study cited by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) found: “Children from more stimulating home reading environments had greater activity in brain areas supporting narrative comprehension and visual imagery, which are important for both language and reading.”  The AAP issued a policy statement in 2014 recommending that physicians encourage families to read to their children from birth.

Image: Pictured above are Aaron Ku, Elaine Lau, Dolce Ku, Sarah Talkington, and Peng-Peng Wang. Credit to Kenny Kemp, Charleston Gazette-Mail.

 

Beckley Art Center collaborates with Raleigh County Read Aloud

by ChaptersEventsPartnersVolunteer Readers

By Lesley McCullough McCallister

Last October, artists from the Beckley Art Center teamed up with two Raleigh County Read Aloud volunteers, Ann Cline and Ruth Baker, to bring original works of art coupled with original stories to area elementary students.

Peggy Dubnam and other local artists from the Beckley Art Center were staging an exhibit and auction of original dolls and their stories. Dubnam contacted Cline and Baker about the possibility of taking the dolls and stories to their Read Aloud classrooms. Cline and Baker were more than willing to join forces.

Cline and Dubnam visited a first-grade class at Crab Orchard Elementary with a handcrafted doll and read Debnam’s original story about the doll’s adventures to the students.

“The most meaningful part for me was the students’ chance to view a piece of art right in their classroom that had been created locally in a collaboration of visual artists and storytellers,” said Cline.

The children and teachers were delighted to see and hear the work of artists and storytellers firsthand. The impact was evident as Cline noted that after they visited the classrooms, one student produced a story at home and later brought it to school for Cline to read during one of her next Read Aloud visits.

Cline also reads to fifth graders at Mabscott Elementary and said that after the art collaboration in those classrooms, several students and their families visited the Beckley Art Center for the first time.

Tamarack heard about this amazing community partnership and asked Debnam if the dolls exhibit could travel there for a special event on an October Sunday afternoon. The event included Read Aloud volunteers Cline and Baker reading the dolls’ stories to children in attendance.

“Partnering with other local organizations and initiatives allows Read Aloud to magnify our impact and engage more fully in the local community,” said Read Aloud West Virginia Executive Director Mary Kay Bond. “Our Raleigh County chapter has done an excellent job of building connections that serve our mission and the community well.”

Lesley McCallister is a Read Aloud supporter, volunteer and newsletter contributor and a freelance journalist.

Turn summer slide into a springboard for family reading and bonding; key element? YOU!

by Parents and FamiliesReading

By Nikki Moses

Summer slide, summer setback, dumber in the summer. Ask any educator, and you will find that a loss of reading skills among students can be as much a part of summer as baseball and ice cream cones; but, it doesn’t have to be!

Many children lose more than two months of reading achievement over the summer, according to the Campaign for Grade Level Reading. Some children do not.

Summer can be a time for reading adventures, trying new genres, family read-a-thons, camp outs with flashlights for reading, reading under the old apple tree, trips to the library followed by stops for ice cream…and reading skills can be maintained or increased.

What (or who) is the catalyst? YOU!

Take advantage of the summer break. Skills and drills, necessary to the educational process, can be left at school. Have fun. Be creative. Bond. Pick up a book that you have been meaning to read!

Weimer Elementary scores a “hat trick” with morning muffins, donuts

by Book DistributionChaptersEventsNewsReading

By Melody Simpson

Becky Ryder, Read Aloud school coordinator and Title I reading teacher at Weimer Elementary School in Saint Albans, had three problems to solve: how to get her students more interested in reading, how to get books into their hands and homes, and how to get parents involved, both at the school and in their children’s success? Fortunately, she and the school came up with an innovative approach to address all three.

In January 2016, Weimer hosted a “Muffins with Moms” event one morning between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., to catch moms (as well as grandmothers and other caregivers) as they were dropping off children at school. (Notices were sent home to alert them in advance.) On another morning in February, the school hosted “Donuts with Dads.” Both events were wildly successful, with 40 to 50 adults attending each one (counting the children, over 100 attended each event). The parents were welcomed and given snacks and drinks, and their children were permitted to choose a free book from a varied selection provided by Read Aloud. Parents then read the books to (or with) their children before the regular school day began.

“The first event was held in the school’s library, but we had so many attending it spilled over into my classroom,” Ryder commented. They moved the “Dads” event into the cafeteria to avoid this “wonderful” overcrowding problem. Ryder believes the timing of the events was key to their success. “When we’ve had family nights or PTO events in the evening, attendance has tended to be very low,” Ryder said. They were thrilled to have so many of the parents attending each event.

Ryder is passionate about making all Weimer students lifelong readers, but she recognizes that many of them face significant hurdles, not the least of which is simply the absence of books to read at home. She hopes to have some sort of book event once a month next year, if finances permit, during which students will be able to choose a book to take home. In addition, since many Weimer students do not live in traditional or stable housing, she plans to provide book bags to hold the students’ personal libraries. A Little Free Library was installed on the school grounds in May and Ryder also intends to request visits from the Kanawha County Public Library’s Bookmobile.

Ryder was extremely grateful to Read Aloud for the books: she commented the group even was able to provide her with books that were likely to appeal to men for the “Dads” event.  She hopes she can replicate the success of “Muffins with Moms” and “Donuts with Dads” next school year.

Melody Simpson is an attorney at Bowles Rice LLP, a volunteer reader and member of the Read Aloud board and newsletter committee.

 

BUZZ: New Read Aloud video a call to action

by NewsReadingResourcesSupportersVideosVolunteer Readers

By Sara Busse

Although one goal of Read Aloud is to limit screen time, a new video produced by West Virginia State University’s Extension Service is creating a buzz about reading aloud across West Virginia.

Lynn Kessler, director of communications and development for RAWV, said the group needed a tool to spread its message. A conversation with West Virginia State University extension agent and Summers County Read Aloud coordinator Stacy Ford at the Read Aloud summer conference led to a collaboration between RAWV and WVSU.

“Matt Browning and Megan Sheets in West Virginia State University’s communications and media departments took it and ran. They were such an incredible help to us in creating a tool that we could not have created without them,” Kessler explained.

Browning and Sheets, both graduates of WVSU and self-proclaimed “total book nerds,” described the video as a call to action to recruit volunteer readers.

Browning and Sheets filmed readers in Summers and Kanawha county, as well as “b-roll” footage featuring extension agents in the library and reading to children. The video was an in-kind donation to Read Aloud, and Sheets said it’s the first time they were able to branch out and do work for another entity besides the University.

The video also features an interview with Read Aloud Executive Director Mary Kay Bond.

“She came to our studio on campus, and she’s like a brochure for Read Aloud in person,” Sheets said, laughing. “She was great.”

Browning said the readers and children were very comfortable in front of the camera because they were engrossed in the reading.

“There was one gentleman, he was an absolute hoot!” he said. “The reader had so much fun with those kids, and they were having so much fun, it made it easy.”

Who is watching you?

by ReadingVolunteer Readers

By Melody Simpson

I am being watched. More significantly, somebody is listening to me. It has been going on for some time, and occurring on a fairly regular basis. At first I didn’t pay too much attention to it, but as time went on, it became more and more apparent. Someone is … observing me. What should I do?  Call the media? Complain to my representatives? Sue the NSA? Fortunately, based on some compelling guidance and advice, I know exactly what to do.

I signed up to become a volunteer reader for another year.

Anyone who regularly reads to an elementary school classroom knows exactly what I’m talking about: children leaning forward, lips parted, mimicking the actions of the characters as I describe them, joining in loudly and joyfully when phrases are repeated. Reminding everyone where we left off last week. Guessing what will happen next. Laughing, gasping, and (for the class I read to last year, who liked all things scary), shivering ….

This is one of the true joys of reading aloud to children, and why I have done this for about 18 years. This, and the chorus of greetings I get when I show up, the hugs that I’m offered. Heck, it’s just plain fun! But when I stop to think about what is happening each week, I realize that it is also serious stuff.

We are modeling the joys of reading. We are sharing, not only great stories, but the fact that we love great stories, and love to read great stories. And this modeling doesn’t just happen in classrooms.

Do you have children, or grandchildren? Do they know that you love to read? Do they see you reading? Do you still read aloud to them? I bet if you tried, you could even read aloud a favorite childhood book to your adolescent or teenage child – or try an audiobook in the car while traveling. I have read aloud to seventh graders, and while they don’t give you the hugs that elementary school kids give, and usually appear bored, they are listening – trust me, I know, because they have told me.

This is the magic, the simplicity, of Read Aloud. All it takes is good stories, and someone who loves to read being willing to share that love with others. The results are remarkable, and the benefits flow both ways. So … who is watching you?